1. Field of the Invention
The present invention refers to sheet metal cutting apparatus, and more particularly to an apparatus arranged behind the blades of a plate shear used for cutting sheet metal strips from a sheet metal plate to remove these strips from the place behind the blades of the plate shear and to stack these strips on piles at a predetermined position behind the plate shear.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Already known in the art is a plate shear to cut sheet metal plates with very sensitive surfaces. This plate shear comprises a feeding table to feed the sheet metal plate to be cut to a pair of blades of the shear, the lower stationary blade being connected to the one edge of this feeding table, extending cross to the direction of feeding. This apparatus is further equipped with a stop member arranged in a certain distance from said stationary blade, against which an edge of the sheet metal plate abutes to determine strips ob sheet metal to be cut by the cooperation of the lower, stationary blade with an upper, movable blade.
The strips are supported, before and during the cutting operation, by a supporting member, which is displaceable from an operating position in the level of said feeding table between said stationary blade and said stop member to a retracted position away from said stationary blade and behind said stop member. The supporting member may consist of a plurality of supporting rods, arranged parallel to each other. As soon as the strip of sheet metal is cut, the supporting member is suddenly retracted and the strip will fall down onto a pile.
With this apparatus, the position of the pile is exactly and invariably determined to be directly behind the stationary blade. All strips, independently of their size, fall on the same pile. Therefore, such a pile comprising strips of different size, must be sorted, which is a very time consuming and sometimes dangerous job, rendering the final product more expensive.